Leibniz QCC

1. "As Spinoza said in another context, "What St. Paul tells us about God tells us more about St. Paul than it does about God." The growth of empiricism and the rise of science over the past three centuries have made it almost impossible to take seriously the extravagant pretension of the priori philosopher, who sits in his study and spins a web of words, fanciful imaginings, and empty speculations out of the material of his own consciousness. Faith in reason alone is alien to us, and we believe that only careful observation and experiment can reveal anything of substance about the actual universe. We no longer study philosophy for the old reason, for the fascination of learning the truth about the nature of things, but rather, for the fascination of learning what people have thought, and if possible why they have thought."

2. I found this quote to be an interesting look at the nature of philosophy and its changing role in society. It's something that I've never spent too much time pondering, but it makes me realize that philosophy, while once used to enlighten people and introduce them  to the truth of the world around them, is now used to introduce people to different perspectives and understanding of the world around them in the hope of adapting that perspective into their own.

3. Whether or not we buy from the philosophy shelf at Barnes & Noble (or we don't buy from Barnes & Noble at all), we are taking in philosophy. When we read a work of fiction, it is introducing to us bits and pieces of the author's own philosophy. Meaningful proverbs such as, "the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword," can be extracted from A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. A person's memoirs give us their philosophy through the sharing of experiences. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are sharing their philosophies twenty-two minutes a day, five days a week, albeit laden with sarcasm and satire. It's all around us, and it isn't made to show us something new about the world. It's made to maybe help us see what we have all our lives in a different way.